re: In short, they think they have to "study" it, when all they have to do is hear it, read it, and imitate it.
Oh, if only that was true!
we've had discussion about pidgeons and creoles-languages that spring up when populations that are mutually incomprehensible are forced together.. first there is a pidgeon.. a mish mash of word from each language, with a few key words of each language being understood .
then as the there are children, the children 'create' a new language, using vocabular of both languages, and a basic simple grammar.
there are almost no irregular verbs, (even the verb to be is pretty regular) and the 'rules' are almost unversaly the same from one creole to another.. double a word makes it 'intensive' --there is hot and hot hot is very hot, there is bad, and bad bad is very bad.
so yeah, 'kids' (human children, that is) do have a built in bias to certain rules of grammar.
but, unfortunately, as languages become established, the rules tend to change.
English is a classic creole with germanic influences from the norse men, and frenchifed words brought over with William the 1st, and it has old words, like cob as in cobweb, from ancient parts of the language.
words have changed meaning, accents have shifted, vowel sounds have 'shifted'
english is no longer a simple creole that children can instintively 'grasp'.
fine maybe you did, and maybe even most people do.. but a hell of a lot of people don't. they need to be taught grammar.
a second problem with the idea that kids only have to hear it to get it, is, alot of what they hear, (on TV, from their peers, from their family, in all sorts of places) is not good (correct) grammar.
this board is filled with threads about poorly written/edited/articulated sentences that abound in advertizing, TV shows,and even reasonably 'literate' publications.
How are kids suppose to get what is right, what is wrong unless they are taught?
now, anyone who knows me, knows i tend to fall into the prescriptive school-- words mean what a percentage (a large percentage) of people think they mean. but we have to have some groundword of commonly 'accepted' meanings (even if the meanings change in my lifetime!) and commomly accepted rules for past tense, and how we use words.
as for english immersion.. well, my czech had a problem with the verb to go.
she always used 'we did go' for the past tense. i knew we went was correct, but she agrued, did go was in the dictionary so it had to be right.
it took me a few minutes.. and i realize did go was acceptable in the emphatic case ('did you go to school today? i got a report you played hooky.. Yes, we did go. who ever told you different was telling a lie!
there is a difference between we went, and we did go.
we went to the store today. You did not!Yes, we did go.. it was crouded, but fun--is anothe example of the emphatic use of the verb 'go'.
i know it, and i know why.
i am not sure any immersion in english (are we all already immersed in english?) is going to work unless you lock up the kids and their families, and control everything they listen to.. (and please don't let them listen to the shrub!) its not possible!
and besides, not every one learns best by hearing --some learn things best by reading, and some learn best by kinetic immersion (i'm one of those people who liked sentence diagrams.. i like boxing in the noun and verb, and that subordinate clauses that hung below (were a subordinate clause clearly belongs!)
simple audio immersion isn't going to work for everyone.
it might work for many, maybe even most, but doesn't every kid deserve an education, that meets their needs? and since many of us are mixed learners, doesn't it make sence to subject everyone to a mix?
NY State is famous for its Regent's exams.. for senior english, an essay, was worth a good 40% of your grade. some of the test was multiple choice too, with and it covered grammer, editing spelling, parts of speach (and i lucked out, 2 question were about copulative verbs!) there were also questions on required reading--
i can listen to spanish nowdays, and understand about 50%--but i don't know any of the rules of spanish grammar. i don't know spanish, and miss sublties. i sure would hate to go through life only knowing 50 or 60% of english.
repeatedly, your case seems to be, "this works for me" --as if you and your experience were the sum total of human experience. You are not all of humanity. what works for you, works for you. but please don't decree that i have to be a round peg too, just because you fit in a round hole.
doing so, makes me what to suggest a round hole you can go fit yourself into!
